


Kotonoha Days

by ArenLuxon



Category: School Days (Visual Novel & Related Media)
Genre: F/F, Originally Posted on FanFiction.Net, Slow Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-16
Updated: 2018-04-20
Packaged: 2019-04-23 16:19:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 17,229
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14336331
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArenLuxon/pseuds/ArenLuxon
Summary: School Days retold from Kotonoha's perspective. Does she really like Makoto, or does she have a secret other love interest?





	1. The Boy on the Train

Thoughts swirled in her head as she tried focusing on her pocket book. There was someone looking at her, she could feel it, but she didn't dare looking up. Better to just ignore it. This creeping feeling.

But she  _had_  to know.

Kotonoha lifted her head and pretended to look out of the window. She quickly found him. He averted his gaze when he saw her looking at him. A faint blush appeared on both of their faces.

She let out a small sigh of relief. This was okay, just a boy from her school. Nothing to be concerned about.

She had seen him before, lots of times. Had he been checking her out all along? No that wasn't possible. People did not  _check her out._

The boy looked a bit dull, as if he was permanently bored, but he was also reasonably cute.

The boy had made her curious. What was his name? What song was he listening to? Why did he look so bored? And why was he looking at her?

She knew for sure now. He had looked at her a second time. His eyes had brushed past her, just lingering long enough to confirm her suspicion. This boy was definitely looking at her.

If she had the courage she would have walked up to him and asked him what song he was listening to, but even the thought made her knees shake a little.

Scenarios of what could go wrong danced around in her head.

The train slowed down with a screeching sound.

The announcement voice told them they were at Gakuenmae station, their stop.

Kotonoha shook herself awake from her spiralling thoughts. She quickly got off the train.

The boy was walking towards the school on a leisure pace. She made sure to stay behind him.

It turned out the boy was in class I-3, the one next to hers. She wanted to be in a different class ever since the first day of school. It didn't matter which other one, just not the one she was in now. But now, suddenly, her preference had shifted a bit to class I-3.

She looked through the open door. This class looked fun. There was a calm atmosphere as everyone checked their numbers with a scheme taped to the blackboard. She hated this. The teacher simply distributed the numbers randomly and then people sneakily changed their papers so they could sit together. Because their class was uneven, someone had to sit alone, and, somehow, she was always that  _someone_.

This class looked a lot more-

Something hit her, hard. Kotonoha felt a sharp pain in her shoulder.

"Watch it," an annoyed voice said.

Katou Otome-san.

Kotonoha had no idea what she had done wrong, but ever since day one, Katou-san had picked on her.

Actually, she did know why. In the past, girls had teased her because of her chest size, but as she grew older (and even larger), the teasing had become more like bullying.

She wanted to say something (although she didn't yet know what), but then, she saw three girls trailing behind Katou-san. Now, it didn't seem like a good plan to say something anymore, and, let's face it, what was she going to say?

So instead, she just lowered her eyes and hoped they would keep moving, which they did. She let out a breath of relief.

She couldn't remain standing here. She had to go to class. As class representative, she couldn't be late.

The first hours were merciful on her. People ignored her during homeroom, so she was fine.

And then, PE came up.

They made their way to the changing rooms. Kotonoha stood in a corner, away from the others and turned their back to them.

She could hear Katou and the Trio speak about her, but she ignored them. There was nothing she could do about it anyway.

Kotonoha hated the PE uniforms. They wore the traditional bloomers (buruma). The shorts were cut of quite high, similar to the skirts of their regular uniform, however, they were required to wear short socks with these instead of the usual thigh high ones. This meant her legs were far more exposed than usual. As if this wasn't enough, the white shirt strained heavily against her chest, drawing even more attention. Luckily, PE was girls only, so she wouldn't have to endure any dirty looks from boys, only jealous/angry ones from the girls.

In the first week, she had told the teacher she was anemic and couldn't participate, but it had backfired a bit. She had assumed she would have an excuse not to participate, but the teacher had told her she could (translation: had to) participate whenever she 'wanted to' and if it became too much, she could simply sit down on the grass and watch, no problem. So now she was spending ninety percent of the time just sitting while the others mumbled about special treatments.

She had thought anemia was a clever way to get out of PE, but she still had to change in her uniform and then call even more attention to herself by sitting by the side. Being anemic had seemed like a plausible excuse; after all, her skin was quite pale and she looked a bit sick whenever she was at school.

Now of course, there was no way she could explain the situation. So there was nothing else to do than fake being anemic for the rest of high school. She sighed at the prospect.

Kotonoha sat down on the pavement, the grass was just behind her and some bushes were further away. At least she was a safe distance away from Katou-san et al.

If only she could read a book in the meantime. But obviously, that wouldn't be allowed.

She prepared for a full period of doing nothing, however, today turned out differently.

"You're Katsura-san, aren't you?" A cheerful voice asked.

She looked up and found a cheerful looking girl standing right in front of her. She looked very ordinary. Big blue-greyish eyes, brown hair, a little over average chest size, but nothing comparable to herself. There was one so called 'idiot hair' (ahoge) sticking out on the top.

"I'm not feeling too well, so sensei told me I could sit down. You don't mind if I join you, do you?"

Before she could reply, the girl sat down next to her.

"I'm Sekai by the way," she continued. "Saionji Sekai, from class I-3."

"Nice to meet you. I'm Katsura Kotonoha, from class I-4."

At first she had been a bit suspicious of this girl suddenly appearing, but since she was from I-3, it was possible she really had no clue about her situation. This girl really looked like a nice person.

She saw people looking at her and Saionji-san, but she didn't mind. For the first time in a really long time, it looked like someone willingly wanted to talk to her.

"Not feeling well too?" Saionji-san asked. Her eyes sparkled a bit in the sun.

"Uhm, I'm anemic."

Saionji-san flashed a smile. "Are you really?"

Her blood suddenly felt very cold. She knew?

Her throat felt dry. "Uhm, can you keep a secret?"

This was a terrible idea. She would get in so much trouble if the teacher found out. Or anyone else.

"Of course."

"Well...I'm not really anemic. It's just..."

"You don't like PE?"

"Something like that."

"Hm." Saionji pondered for a moment. "Or is it maybe that you don't like the rest of your class?"

Kotonoha felt her cheeks grow hot. This girl really was seeing straight through her.

"Uhm..."

"I see."

"Uhm, Saionji-san? Why are you talking to me? The others will notice."

The other girl shrugged. "Let them. I don't mind."

"You,  _don't mind_?" This was very strange.

"You don't fit in well with your class do you?"

"Not really."

"Well, to be honest. Back in middle school I had the same thing. The girls avoided me, for no reason at all. In your case, it probably has to do with how cute you are."

"I'm not cute," she insisted.

That got her a sceptical look. "Look, I'm just saying, I know how you feel. I know how it feels to be lonely, and I wish someone would have been there for me back in middle school. So when I saw you sitting here by yourself, I thought, 'this girl could use a helping hand'. So here I am."

"Well, thank you, I guess." Something about this whole story felt off, but she couldn't figure out what it was. Did this girl have some kind of ulterior motives?

But that wasn't possible. What could anyone possibly want from her? She was just a lonely girl with an overly large chest size. Unless this girl was a lesbian with a fetish for girls like her, which she seriously doubted, there was no plausible explanation for this. Which meant… Kotonoha sighed inwardly.

Maybe she was growing paranoid. Maybe the girls in her class had made her believe everyone hated her. Maybe...Saionji-san really was just a nice person trying to help her.

"Are you okay?" Saionji asked, breaking the silence.

"Yeah," she said, coming back from her train/spiral of thoughts. "I'm fine."

"Look, if you ever want to talk about...anything at all, you can call me." She took out her cellphone.

"You're not supposed to have your cellphone with you in PE."

She smiled. "And you don't?"

She looked around. Everyone was preoccupied with running around on the track field.

Kotonoha took out her cellphone as well.

They exchanged numbers.

"Let's take a picture," Saionji-san suggested when they were done.

"Uhm, okay."

The picture wasn't half bad. Saionji-san smiled brightly, while Kotonoha looked a bit insecure. A faint blush painted her cheeks and she didn't look straight in the camera. Saionji had wrapped her hand around her shoulder, so at least they didn't look like two girls awkwardly keeping a distance from each other.

Had she just made a friend?

No, that wasn't possible. She was just fooling herself. Saionji-san was just being nice.

The bell indicated PE was over.

They got back to change, and somehow, she lost track of Saionji-san along the way.

See. Of course. What was she thinking? This was nothing. This girl was just being nice to her. Tomorrow would be the same as usual.

Her thoughts kept buzzing around as she got dressed, but, when she got outside, something else buzzed as well.

Kotonoha fished out her phone and flipped it open.

It was from Saionji-san.

[Can I call you tonight? There's something I need to ask.]

Wait, what?

What could she possible want to ask from a girl she just met?

A confession? On the phone? How would she have to reply to that?

She felt her cheeks growing hot. Her ears burned.

No, that was way too weird. Maybe it was just, uhm, something else. Something like...something. Anything really.

_There's no need to worry. She just wants to call and ask something._

Her fingers typed back.

[Yeah, sure.]

She pressed  _send_.

_Breathe. Everything is going to be fine. She wouldn't ask for anything weird._

_Maybe she just wanted to talk. Yeah, that made sense. That had to be it,_ she convinced herself. Just chatting. That's what girls did, right? Girls her age, they chatted. About important things like fashion and uhm, boys, and nail polish, and chest size.

Oh god. She really didn't know anything about all that. She did know some things about fashion, but mostly like,  _expensive_  fashion, not something regular high school girls would know about.

Maybe she could talk about the books she read?

No, there was no one who knew about those.

What could she talk about? Now that she thought about it, she really didn't have anything to talk about. Mom had insisted she gave up her hobbies when she entered high school so she could focus more on her school work. Horse riding, iaido, piano, ballet, calligraphy… she had basically stopped with everything.

Her life was actually pretty boring now that she thought about it.

The rest of the day past in a blur. Nothing really major happened. Katou and several others were gossiping about her, but she payed them no heed.

After the last class, she went to the train station.

She stopped in her tracks.

Two people were sitting on a bench. One of them was Saionji-san, and the other was the cute dark-haired boy that rode the same train as her. Saionji-san was laughing at something the boy was telling her. He waved his hands around as he told his story.

They knew each other?

Wait, of course they knew each other, they were in the same class.

Should she go talk to Saionji-san?

Before she could make a move, Kotonoha heard a warning on the announcement and a train stopped before them.

Saionji-san got on it and left. She waved to the boy and he waved back.

She rode the other train. The one going south, to Motehara, the opposite direction. That was why she had never seen her before.

Should she go to the boy and talk to him?

It was quite busy in the station. From the corner of her eye, she saw Nanami and several others she knew. They were watching this particular boy as well.

Strange. Was he that popular? He certainly didn't look like it.

 _Oh well,_  she shrugged.  _Let's just go home._

She made sure to get in another wagon so the others didn't notice her.

Back home, her little sister, Kokoro-chan greeted her.

"Onee-chan, there you are. I missed you so much," she said, overly excited. Her sister hugged her.

"Did you?" What could she possible need from-

Oh, of course.

"You forgot, did you?" Her little sister released her and pouted.

"Of course not, Kokoro. Who do you take me for?"

Kokoro immediately reverted back to her bright self. Really, she could spin around in the blink of an eye.

Like she had promised, she helped her sister with homework. Kokoro was bad at math. The way things looked, okaa-san would definitely send her to summer school, something Kokoro despised passionately.

They lost track of time, until suddenly.

"Onee-chan, is that your cellphone?"

"Oh, right." She gently guided her sister to the door.

"Who is calling you, onee-chan? Your boyfriend? Does onee-chan have a boyf-"

With a final push, Kokoro was outside and the door slammed shut behind her.

Kotonoha quickly picked up. "Mochi mochi?" She spoke the traditional Japanese greeting slightly out of breath.

"Hey, Katsura-san. How are you?"

"Saionji-san?"

"You seem surprised. I told you I was going to call you, didn't I?"

"Yeah, of course. I didn't forget. I was just uhm, preoccupied."

"I see."

"So," she swallowed hard. "What did you want to talk to me about?"

"Oh, yes. Would you like to have lunch tomorrow? There's someone I would like you to meet."

Someone? Who could that be?

Maybe…

No, that couldn't be it. Maybe another girl. A friend of Saionji-san. Surely, she had friends.

"Uhm, okay. Sounds fun."

"Great, see you tomorrow then."

Kotonoha tried finding something else to say, but she couldn't come up with anything.

"See you tomorrow," she said after a short pause. She hung up the phone.

Her heart was going faster than usual, but she couldn't for the life of her figure out  _why_.

It had been a strange day. A very strange day.

She couldn't help but wonder what tomorrow would bring.

If only she knew back then, what the future would bring, she might have replied differently.


	2. A Helping Hand?

Kotonoha had never been on the roof before. As far as she knew, this door was supposed to be locked. But apparently, Sekai had 'resurrected' the astronomy club, which gave her access to the roof. And locking it again when she left didn't seem to be a priority for her.

The teachers weren't concerned either, which made sense. There were large steel fences that prevented anyone from trying stupid things, so safety wasn't an issue. In fact, there was even a white bench put here, as if it was actually designed as some kind of roof terrace.

Kotonoha had arrived too early. Saionji-san wasn't here yet.

She still suspected there was something behind all this. This random girl had suddenly started talking to her and now she wanted to eat lunch together. What was up with that?

Maybe all of this was an elaborate prank or something. Maybe they would lock her up on the roof. While the teachers didn't seem bothered there were people up here, she would have a hard time explaining how she got locked on the roof. Would anyone even hear her from up here?

She reprimanded herself. Thinking like this was stupid. Even if there was some kind of plan, there was very little she could do about it. She could leave, but that didn't seem right. What would she say to Saionji-san if her suspicion turned out completely wrong? She didn't want to risk losing her one potential friend.

The door opened.

A boy stumbled into view. A boy that looked awfully familiar to her.

He righted himself when he saw her. A faint blush appeared on his cheeks.

"Uhm." What was the Boy on the Train doing here?

"Katsura-san." Saionji-san joined them. "Did you wait for long?"

The pieces of the puzzle fell in place very fast.

"No, I just got here," she quickly said.

Saionji jabbed the boy in his side.

He cleared his throat. "H-Hello."

"Hello," she replied. Really, what was up with all this? "It's nice to meet you. I'm Katsura Kotonoha," she formally introduced herself.

"Itou Makoto."

"Come on, don't be so formal," Saionji interjected their awkward conversation. "Let's have lunch."

She ended up next to Saionji-san on the bench, with the boy, Itou Makoto, on Saionji's other side, keeping an awkward distance from the girls.

Kotonoha took out the lunch she had made for everyone.

"Wow, Katsura-san, that looks delicious," Saionji said.

"I'm not very skilled, but please try some." Kokoro had tasted them this morning and told her they tasted awful. But she was probably just teasing her and Kotonoha had been too busy with dodging questions about the lunch she had made. (Kokoro was utterly convinced her big sister had a boyfriend.)

"Since you went through the trouble to invite me, I thought I should do something in return," Kotonoha explained.

"You really didn't need to bother." Saionji-san said as she accepted the basket.

"Here, Makoto," she continued. "Kotonoha's homemade food." She offered one to the boy at well, who seemed to get more nervous by the minute.

"Ah, yes."

"If you'd like," Kotonoha said.

"I'd be delighted," the boy replied. "Itadakimasu."

Both of them took a bite at the same time, which was followed by a silence. A silence that stretched for long. Too long.

"Uhm," Kotonoha broke the silence. "How is it?"

"Uhm." They struggled a bit to reply.

"It's good, right?" Saionji-san said. She threw Itou a look which really didn't give him much room to say otherwise.

"It's an unusual taste," Itou said, trying to be diplomatic about it. "Say, Katsura-san, is this by any chance…"

"Yes," she admitted. "It's pretty much my first time cooking."

"I thought so."

Another awkward silence fell.

She knew it. Well, she  _should_  have known it. Kokoro wasn't teasing her at all. Her little sister was right: her cooking was awful.

"Well then," Saionji-san said. She stood up.

"Where are you going?" Itou asked. He seemed concerned she was leaving.

"Just the restroom," she said. "Don't worry."

And then, they were suddenly alone.

Just what was Saionji-san trying to pull off?

"Uhm. You seem very nervous," Kotonoha said.

"I'm normally a lot calmer," he explained. "Today is just...special."

"What's special about it?"

"I'm having lunch with Katsura-san, not that we're alone, Sekai is just leaving for a moment, so uhm, you know, special."

"I understand," she said. She smiled encouragingly.

"You do?" He looked very surprised.

"Yeah."

She could understand he was nervous when talking to people, hell, she should be nervous as well, but for some reason, she was very calm today.

They talked a bit about school and what things they liked (both of them struggled to find anything so they quickly changed the subject again.)

All too soon, the bell rang.

"Sekai never returned," Itou-kun said.

That didn't surprise Kotonoha. By now, it was perfectly clear to her what she had been up to. She was trying to ship them.

Itou-kun certainly did look like an interesting person, so she didn't mind so much Saionji-san was trying to set them up. They certainly hit things off.

But she was being a little too obvious about it. What if she was being forced into some relationship she didn't want?

They went back down to the hallway.

"Well," Itou said. "It was nice meeting you."

"Nice meeting you to," she said, bowing slightly.

They went back to their respective classes.

She didn't see the boy again until the next morning.

"Katsura-san."

It startled her a bit.

"Sorry," he said, smiling apologetically. "I didn't mean to scare you."

"It's okay," she said. "Good morning, Itou-kun."

"Good morning."

"Looks like we're on the same train."

"Yeah…"

He avoided her eyes suddenly.

Now that she thought about it, it had sounded pretty stupid. 'We're on the same train.' Really? She couldn't come up with anything else? This boy had been sneaking glances at her for  _weeks_ , of course he knew they were on the same train.

"Itou-kun?"

"Ah, uhm. Say, Katsura-san..."

The arrival of the train interrupted their conversation.

/

At PE, Saionji-san came to her again.

"Everything alright?" She asked.

"Yeah," she said as Saionji sat down next to her.

It was quiet for a moment.

"Uhm, Saionji-san?"

"Hm? What is it?"

"Itou-kun...confessed to me."

It had been a pretty crude confession. Well, basically he had just asked her out while they were on the train.

"Woah, just after meeting you. He's a very straightforward guy."

"I uhm...gave my okay."

'Giving your okay' and saying 'yes' is not the same thing, but Saionji-san didn't seem to bother herself with silly semantics.

"I see," she said, a bright smile appeared on her face. "That's good."

"Uhm. Saionji-san? Do you remember how I told you there was someone who interested me?"

Saionji had called the evening after their lunch on the roof. During the conversation, Saionji had asked if she had a boyfriend. Kotonoha had replied that 'there was someone she was interested in', hoping Sekai would get the hint.

"Yes, I remember," she said. "That's not good! You can't be thinking about him when dating Makoto-kun."

_Him?_

_Makoto-kun?_

_Dating?_

Where were all these assumptions suddenly coming from?

"That person...was Itou-kun," she quickly said. There was no way she could explain the situation now. Saionji-san was too far down her version of the story.

"Eh?" Saionji looked surprised.

"Everyday on the train…" She felt like she needed to provide some sort of explanation to Saionji-san, to make sure she would believe it. "It felt like there was someone who was always watching me. At first, I thought it was just my imagination, but when I started to realize, I become more and more interested in him. It was Itou-kun."

"Oh. So it's mutual love? That's good." Sekai immediately reverted back to her happy self.

Seriously, how did Saionji jump to conclusions like that? It was almost as if she wanted them to be a couple a little  _too_  much. How else could she just accept that explanation? Surely Kotonoha wasn't so desperate she would just start dating every guy that checked her out on the train, was she?

So what could Saionji possibly have to gain by coupling them?

Kotonoha couldn't come up with anything.

"Yes," she said, now completely stuck in her web. "When Itou-kun confessed to me this morning, I was very happy." She faked a smile. "I'm very grateful to you. You brought us together, didn't you? I don't think I would have ever made Itou-kun's acquaintance without you. Because wishes won't be granted just by thinking about them, right?"

"I said the same thing to Makoto," Saionji admitted.

She did? Kotonoha suddenly felt a strange connection to the girl sitting next to her.

"Makoto was going like 'I'm fine just looking at her'."

"He was?"

"He's a really nice guy," Saionji said. "And he really likes you, so…"

So I have to date him?

"Good luck," she finished.

"Thank you very much," Kotonoha quickly said, smiling once more.

The bell rang, indicating the end of their class.

"Well, I'll see you around," Saionji said. She stood up and left her on the grass.

Meanwhile, Kotonoha was still busy trying to figure out what made her heart beat so fast.


	3. A Stressful Date

_This wouldn't do either_ , Kotonoha concluded.  _Too formal._

By now, she had already taken out half of the clothes she owned and tossed them on the bed.

She really wanted to wear her red summer dress, but it was too cold outside.  _Yes, that was the reason, insecurity had nothing to do with it_ , she convinced herself.

Whatever she wore, it couldn't be too revealing. Makoto couldn't think she was a slut or something. But then again, it couldn't be too modest either, or he would think she was a prude. And since she was super nervous around guys, or girls, it would have to be something in which she felt comfortable.

Kotonoha was creeping ever closer to a nervous breakdown.

Saionji-san had gone through so much trouble to set them up like this, so she couldn't screw up. Saionji-san was counting on her, she had to give it her best.

It was time for plan B.

She took out her phone and dialed a number.

"This is an emergency," she blurted out.

"Katsura-san?" She heard someone suppress a yawn. "Why are you calling me so early? I usually sleep out on the weekends."

"Sorry." She turned bright red. "Were you still sleeping?"

"I  _was_. But now that I'm awake, what's the problem?"

"I'm having a date with Makoto-kun this afternoon."

"And you're nervous?"

"I have no idea what to wear," she confessed. "I've already showered three times and done my make-up a few times again, but I can't decide what to wear."

Sekai chuckled. "Don't stress so much. Now, take a deep breath, in and out."

She did as Saionji asked.

"Better?"

"A bit," she admitted. "Now what do I wear?"

"Can you turn on your camera and show me what you've got?"

"Uhm, sure."

"Woah, Katsura-san. You sure have a lot of clothes," Saionji proclaimed as her full wardrobe came into view.

"Uhm, yeah." Luckily, Saionji-san couldn't see her embarrassed face.

"What about that red summer dress?"

"I can't wear that one."

"Why not?"

"Uhm...it's too cold outside."

"And you're not confident enough to show off that much skin?" She added, reading the situation.

"Yeah, that too."

"Maybe that's for the best. We wouldn't want Makoto to get perverted ideas."

"He wouldn't do that," Kotonoha insisted. "He's a sweet and innocent boy."

Saionji chuckled. "Don't be so naive, Katsura-san. I'm sure he's attracted to you, both mentally and physically. He's a guy after all."

"I'm not sure I'm ready for that."

"Don't worry, it'll be fine. What about that pink thing?"

"Isn't that too conservative?" Kotonoha sounded worried.

"Well, it's a date after all."

She picked up the pink blazer. "If you say so, I'll trust in your judgement," she said. "I'll get dressed then."

"Good luck on your date."

"Thanks."

\

\

"Itou-kun?" Itou was deeply immersed into a book with an unfamiliar cover.

"Katsura-san." He looked surprised, as if they hadn't agreed to meet here. They had agreed to meet here, right? She searched her memory just in case. She clearly remembered the time and place, but what if she was wrong? Maybe he had been waiting here for hours.

"I'm sorry. Did you wait long?" She quickly asked.

"Ah... uh... I'm fine." He was even more nervous than her it seemed.

His eyes looked at her. She had gone with a dark pink shirt, a lighter shade pink blazer and a white skirt. A little green bag was on her hip.

She wanted to ask whether he liked it, but she didn't have the courage.

"Shall we?" She asked, trying to defuse the tension.

"Ah, yeah, of course."

They started walking.

Somehow, his book disappeared, even though he had no bag with him and it was obviously too large to fit in his pocket.

Strange.

Their date was, in short, a complete disaster. Itou was about as calm as a Duracell Bunny and in his effort to make their date go perfect, he screwed everything up. Kotonoha felt uneasy as well, but she had a hard time voicing it. Basically, the more obvious it became their date didn't go well, the more Itou tried, apparently stuck in denial, and the quieter Kotonoha became.

Maybe they should stop dating. This clearly wasn't working out.

Suddenly, they were on the platform again and their date was over.

"I'll uhm, see you around," Itou said.

"Yeah, sure."

They awkwardly said goodbye and Itou got on the train. He turned around inside.

"Maybe we can go on another date," the boy suggested.

"Uhm, yeah, sure."

He smiled. "See you at school then."

The doors closed and the train set itself in motion. Itou waved like a little kid as the train moved.

As soon as the train left, she took out her phone.

"Katsura-san, how did it go?" Saionji-san wasted no time asking.

"Can we talk?"

"That sounds serious."

"It is."

"You know the swingset near the school?"

"Yeah."

"I'll meet you there in half in hour, is that ok?"

"Sure."

\

\

Katsura was the first to arrive. She got on one of the swings.

It wasn't long before Saionji-san arrived.

"So," she said as she seated herself on the second swing. "How did it go?"

"Terrible."

"Oh come on, Makoto-kun is a nice guy. You just need to get to know each other."

"I don't think we're compatible. He's just… I don't know, incompatible."

Saionji sighed. "Well, you tried."

"I uhm, sort of agreed to go on a second date."

"What?"

"He asked me, and I, didn't know what to reply, so I just said 'yeah, sure'."

Saionji did a facepalm. "You're both idiots."

"Itou-kun isn't an idiot."

"Oh, I can see him screwing up that date. Probably super nervous and thinking about perverted things all the time."

"It's not like that," she said. "It's not him, it's me. I'm… scared of boys."

"Scared?"

"Ever since primary school I had the biggest chest in my year. Everyone always teased me about it and…"

"But that's different with Makoto-kun, right?"

"I know, I know. But still…"

"I think Makoto-kun wants to cherish you."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, boys always think about perverted stuff. Really, if it was another boy, he would probably do  _this_."

Suddenly, Saionji-san was behind her.

Her hands went under her shoulders and settled on her chest.

"These are just wasted on Makoto-kun," Saionji-san whispered in her ear. Her hands roughly fondled Kotonoha's chest. "Makes me really want them."

"S-Saionji-san." Her voice had grown weak under the assault.

If a boy did that, she would have slapped him before he even came so close, but with Saionji-san, no, with Sekai, things felt entirely different.

Why did this feel so confusing?

She hoped Sekai wouldn't feel…

No, she felt it, obviously. Her breasts were soft everywhere, except the very middle, which had grown rock-hard under Sekai's touch.

"N-No," she tried to speak. Her hands remained their tight grip on the chains of the swing. She should be doing something, this was basically assault, yet…

"Well," Sekai released her and stepped back. "I think I'll stop meddling here."

Kotonoha's face was completely flushed. She quickly stood up from the swing and took her bag. How could something that was so wrong feel so right?

"You should watch Makoto-kun a bit more," Sekai advised. "I'm sure you'll start to understand him." She collected her bag as well.

Huh?

Was all this, just,  _nothing_?

"Uhm, Se-Saionji-san. The truth is, about Itou-kun…"

_He's not the one that interested me. He's not the one I like. The truth is..._

She mustered her courage to finally tell Sekai how she felt, but…

"Hm, I wonder." Sekai smiled. "How your relationship will progress."

Kotonoha looked back down, embarrassed. "Never mind. I'm going home now."

She couldn't tell her that. It was a stupid idea to bring it up in the first place.

Sekai wanted her to date Itou-kun, she wasn't interested in other  _options_. There had never been a second option.

The tears didn't came on her way home, nor when she arrived there, but when she took a bath, they suddenly overwhelmed her.

Maybe she should have told Sekai. Even if she would be, most certainly, rejected, at least she would have told her honest feelings.

Or maybe she should just continue to date Itou-kun. He was a nice boy after all, but, more importantly...

It would make Sekai happy.


	4. The Movie

"Sekai gave me those tickets," Itou explained.

Kotonoha noticed he called her by her first name. "Se-Saionji-san is a nice girl."

"She really wants us to be together it seems," Itou said.

"I wonder why."

Itou shrugged. "She said she enjoys watching romance bloom. But I can't understand why she would…" His voice trailed off.

"Do what?" Kotonoha pressed

"Nothing." He looked away.

"Tell me," she said, unusually persistent. "I want to know more about Saionji-san."

Itou took a deep breath and turned back to her. "Have you ever heard about the Cellphone Charm?"

"The one where you take a picture of someone you like and set it as your background?"

"Yeah. And if no one finds out for three weeks, your love will be realised."

"Did you… take a picture of…"

"Uhm," he looked away, blushing. "I sort of did. It meant nothing, it was just a… I don't know. It doesn't work, of course. I just, took a picture of you because I thought you looked cute. But then, the first day, Sekai saw it."

"Oh."

"She felt really guilty about it and insisted on bringing us together. I would never have asked you out if not for Sekai. I was fine just watching you from a distance, I was fine just being…"

"The Boy on the Train?"

He smiled softly. "Something like that."

"But, if she-"

They were interrupted by a screeching sound.

The train had arrived at their stop.

Luckily, this 'date' was right after school, meaning she didn't have to go through another nervous breakdown to pick an outfit, since both of them were still in their uniform.

They walked the short distance to the movie theater in silence.

"Which one do you want to see?" Itou asked.

There seemed to be some silly romance playing, along with a fantasy and… her eye had immediately fallen on the giant poster with zombies.

She was a sucker for horror movies. Also, from scientific research she knew that being scared promoted feelings of intimacy. In other words: the easiest way to get a girl to hold you close is to take her to a horror movie.

"I uhm…" She looked longingly at the poster.

"I know," he interrupted her. "It has to be that one, right?"

\

\

Kotonoha let out a sigh.

"When you're with a girl, it has to be a romance," Itou said, overly enthusiastic, as usual.

Idiot. Maybe you should pay some attention and get to know the real Katsura-san. Or should she have spoken up more? If she had simply told him…

Well, she couldn't tell him now of course.

This date was already going down and it hadn't even started yet.

The movie itself was, needless to say, terrible. It was a stupid story about a guy who was being pushed into a relationship by another girl, but halfway through she realised she loved him as well and…

Wait a minute.

What if…

Oh no. No, no, no, that couldn't be true. Yet… it had to be. It explained everything perfectly.

What if… Saionji-san liked Itou? And she set them up in an effort to get closer to Itou herself. That also explained why…

Her thoughts were interrupted by Itou taking her hand.

"Uhm, I… Itou-kun? You're touching my hand."

He nodded. Then, he leaned in closer.

Hey, calm down. Her brain went to panic-mode.

The slap resounded through the whole room. He was completely stunned.

Needless to say, it made the rest of their date even more awkward.

\

"I'm really sorry," Itou said. "Sekai said I should, uhm, you know."

"Sekai's advice doesn't seem very helpful," Kotonoha pointed out, her voice was cold. Of course not. She was pretending to set them up, but actually, she wanted to be with Itou herself. This was so wrong.

"But," Itou said. "She wants us to be together."

"If she wants us to be together, then why did she kiss you?"

His eyes went wide. It took him a few seconds to regain his composure. "H-How," he swallowed hard. "How do you know that?"

"I saw you the other day. She was kissing you, at the station."

"I uhm. I thanked her for bringing us together, and said I owned her one. She said she would take me up on that and then uhm, kinda kissed me, out of nowhere."

"Itou," she said. "I think you should date her instead. I can't hold your hand, I can't… kiss you and I certainly can't… fulfill your other desires. You and Saionji-san are better suited for each other. And she likes you, that much is obvious now."

"I… yeah, probably."

"She set us up because she felt guilty, but, it's not working. You can see that, right?"

He touched his cheek, where she had slapped him. "Yeah, I can see that now."

"Let's just stay friends," Kotonoha finished.

"Yeah."

Wow. She had actually said it. Despite being scared as hell, she had said what she wanted to say. Well, mostly.

\

\

"So, how did it go?" Sekai asked. She had called after their 'date'.

"Uhm, not so good."

"How so?"

"I… uhm, he… tried to kiss me."

"Oh. Don't worry. I'll tell him tomorrow."

'We're no longer dating'. She just had to say it, it wasn't that hard.

Instead, she made a strange sound that could be interpreted as 'ok' with some imagination.

"Don't you worry about it," Sekai added. "I'll tell him to stop doing stuff you don't like."

"It's not that I… don't like it. But…" If it was you, then maybe…Her mind went back to the swingset. To Sekai suddenly standing behind her and touching her chest. If she had tried to kiss her at that point, she probably wouldn't have objected. Actually, she should have kissed Sekai back then. Why had't she done that? But maybe it was for the best she hadn't. Sekai probably would have slapped her.

"But?" Sekai pressed.

"I'm not really ready for it." She cursed herself. Even on the phone she couldn't tell her. The words she wanted to say just couldn't pass her lips. "I'm being bad to him."

"That pervert is just getting ahead of himself. Don't feel bad, Katsura-san."

"I can't respond to his feelings." So we stopped dating. For fuck's sake, get the hint.

"You're being to considerate."

She facepalmed herself in silence. Why was she so dense? Why couldn't she just say such a simple thing. It was never Itou she liked.

"But, Katsura-san?"

"Yeah?" Please tell me you realised.

"You don't plan on doing anything like that then? Like, kissing and… other things."

Like touching someone's chest on the swingset?

"I would." If it's with you.

"You would?"

"Ah, uhm, well, if it was the right moment." She was improvising now.

"At a wonderful place," Sekai added. "With a good mood."

"Yeah, like Europe."

"Europe?"

"Yeah." If she made it super unrealistic, Sekai would realise, right? "You know, like, riding a horse in the mountains." She might as well go all the way now. "The boys riding a white horse always got me going. They were so gallant."

"You ride horses?"

"I used to be in a horse-riding club. I can just picture it, in the mountain paths in Europe, he is riding a dazzling white horse, and we're caught up in a storm, so we take shelter in a cabin. Obviously, we need to take off our clothes to make them dry by the fire and then, wrapped in the same blanket, our bodies pressing together, it just, happens."

"You really are a maiden in love, aren't you?"

Yes. But not with Itou.

"I guess." Why couldn't Sekai pick up a hint?

"I'll talk to him tomorrow."

"Yeah, ok."

Certainly Itou would tell her they had decided to stop dating.

Everything was okay. There was no need to do a pointless confession. There was no need to get rejected. Sekai was going to date Itou anyway.

"I'll see you tomorrow."

"Good night, Sa…" She gathered her courage. "Sekai-san."

Sekai chuckled. "You can just call me Sekai."

"Y-You can call me by my given name as well, S-Sekai."

She chuckled again. "Good night, Kotonoha."

Kotonoha slowly lowered her phone and put it aside.

Well. She had done it. She had called Sekai by her first name and she had told Itou they probably should stop dating. Not bad at all now that she considered it.

'Good night, Kotonoha.' The words echoed in her mind.

Oh, if only Sekai had been there instead of Itou. She could imagine Sekai taking her hand instead and trying to… kiss her.

Her thoughts drifted back to the swingset. Sekai's hands had felt so good. It was wrong, but it had felt so right.

She looked at the clock. It was already pretty late.

Kotonoha reluctantly got up and went to the bathroom to brush her teeth.

When she was done, she returned and changed into her favorite pyjamas.

"Uhm. Saionji-san? Do you remember how I told you there was someone who interested me?"

"Yes, I remember. That's not good! You can't be thinking about him when dating Makoto-kun."

Him? Oh Sekai, you were so wrong. She was thinking about her when dating Itou-kun.

But Sekai was right about one thing: Kotonoha really was a maiden in love.


	5. Swimsuit Troubles

"Mom? What are those tickets doing here?" Kotonoha asked. She held up two tickets for Aqua Square.

"Oh," her mom said from the kitchen. "Your dad got them at work. But they are for this weekend and we can't go."

"Can I have them?"

"Sure. But can you go?"

"Why not?"

"Well." Her mom leaned into the living room and looked at her. "Do you still have a bikini that fits?"

Kotonoha turned bright red.

Finding bikinis had always been a challenge since she had a pretty unusual size. She also tended to grow out of them really fast.

"I'll just go shopping then," she said. That was a good excuse, right?

A girl couldn't go shopping alone after all. Shopping was a group activity between girls. And two people technically constituted a group.

And maybe Sekai would need a new bikini as well.

But she couldn't get her hopes up too much.

Kotonoha went to her room and took out her cellphone.

It went over three times.

"Hello?" A familiar voice answered.

"Hey…" she swallowed. "Sekai."

"Hey, Kotonoha. Everything alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Hey, uhm, listen up-"

"I talked to Makoto-kun."

"Oh."

"I told him he had to stop doing things you don't like."

"You don't have to worry about that…"  _anymore_. She just had to say that last word.

"He's just a bit dense," Sekai said, oblivious to her hints. "Don't worry, I think he gets it now. He won't try anything weird on your next date."

Next… date?

She closed her eyes.

He hadn't told her. Most likely, he had been in a very similar situation. Sekai was incredibly enthusiastic about getting them together and it was hard to snap her out of that dream. Especially when she looked at you directly. Sekai smiled as if she wasn't dying on the inside, and you just couldn't dispel the obvious illusion. You couldn't address the elephant in the room. You couldn't get the words over your lips.

"I'm going to the pool with him this weekend," she said.

"Sounds fun."

"But I have one problem."  _Actually I have more than one problem._

"Hm?"

"I don't have a bikini."

"You don't?" The surprise was obvious. "I've never met a girl without a bikini."

"Well, I don't have one that uhm… fits."

"Oh. I see." Now she understood.

"Will you help me pick one?"

"Sure, sure. But are you sure you want to tempt Makoto-kun like that? He can't even control himself when you're in your school uniform."

"I… you said you talked to him."

"I'm just teasing you."

_Like that time on the swingset?_

It was silent for a moment.

"What's wrong?" Sekai asked, worried. "It was just a joke, I didn't mean to-"

"It's fine. I was just lost in thoughts for a moment."

"Thinking about your date?"  
 _Thinking about shopping for bikinis with you actually. And how I'm going to handle a fake date_. She really had painted herself in a corner with her words.

"Now that I think about it," Sekai said. "I need a new bikini myself too."  
"You do?" She hoped her words sounded casually. In reality her heart had skipped several beats when hearing those words.

"Yeah. Are you free this Saturday?"

"Yes."

"Good. Let's meet in Sakino Hills then."

\

\

Kotonoha got out of the train at Sakakino station. She saw Sekai standing a bit further.

She was going to call out, but changed her mind halfway through.

Kotonoha's heart beat wildly. Sweat started forming on her hands.

Her phone almost slipped through her fingers. She could only hope no one would notice.

She held her breath and snapped the picture without Sekai noticing. It was a reasonably good sideways shot.

Kotonoha breathed out. Her heartbeat slowed down a bit. Her fingers navigated the menu to set it as a background.

_When you take a picture of someone you like, and no one sees it for three weeks, your love will be-_

"Good morning, Kotonoha."  
She snapped her phone shut.

"Bad consciousness?" Sekai asked, cheerful as always.

"No. I was just uhm… texting someone."  
"Makoto-kun?"

"Yeah."  
"So things are still going well?"

"Well uhm."

"That's good." She smiled. "Shall we?"

"Sure."

They walked out of the station. Sekai guided her through the maze that was Sakakino Hills until they arrived at a large building.

Blue letters spelled the words 'Jo-Q Hands'.

"Let's go inside," Sekai said.

This particular shop seemed to specialise in swimsuits. They had them in every possible color and size, even her own impossible size. Rows and rows of colorful fabric covered the floor, although not all of them covered an equal amount of skin. Some of these bikini's were nothing more than strings. She couldn't imagine coming home with something like that. These things had to be designed for private use.

Her mind wandered off and imagined Sekai in one of those things. The two of them, alone, somewhere far off in a private swimming pool…

"You've never been here before?" Sekai asked.

"Huh?" Kotonoha woke up from her daydream. "No, my last swimsuit came from France."

"Oh. France. That's like, Europe, right?"

"Yeah."

"Well I've been here a lot. You need a new swimsuit every year. A girl's body changes day by day, and even if it doesn't, you need to keep up with the latest fashion."

You do?

She suddenly felt like she had missed out on an important life lesson.

"What did you say your size was?" Sekai asked.

"Well, uhm… I don't know, my mom usually buys me bikinis from France."

"Aren't European sizes the same as Japanese?"

How did she know that? She hadn't sounded that certain that france was in Europe, so how would she know about bra sizes?

"A-Anyway." Kotonoha pretended to look at the swimsuits, a faint blush on her face. "I'll find my size here somewhere, don't worry."

"I thought you needed my help?"

"I just need your opinion." Her face had turned bright red by now.

"Well, I think you would look great in everything."

Kotonoha stopped her movements.

What did she mean by that? She would look great in  _everything_? Was Sekai…?

She shook her head. No, that wasn't possible. Sekai meant nothing with that remark. She was just getting her hopes up.

"Uhum," Kotonoha cleared her throat. She took a random bikini from the shelves. "I'm gonna try this one on."

"Okay." Sekai smiled brightly.

She made for the changing room and closed the curtain.

When she was alone, she let out her breath.

Maybe this was a bad idea after all. She didn't mind showing off swimsuits to Sekai, but…

Sekai was in love with Makoto-kun and she had to support her in that, the same way Sekai had supported her. Of course that support had been utterly misguided, but it was Kotonoha's own fault for not telling Sekai how she truly felt.

She changed into the white bikini.

Then, she took a deep breath and opened the curtain.

"W-What do you think?"

Sekai's eyes widened for a second. Then, she put her hand on her chin. "Hmm."

"Don't stare like that," Kotonoha said, covering herself. "It's embarrassing."

"Well how am I supposed to give my opinion if I don't look?"

"..."

"Uhm." Sekai got closer to her.

Kotonoha's heart started beating faster.

"I've seen them before of course, but… are those real?"

"Real?"

Sekai reached out with her hand and poked her breast.

Kotonoha reflexively pulled back. "That tickles."

"Sorry," Sekai said, smiling apologetically. "I shouldn't have done that. I just had to confirm they were real."

"I…"

She had pulled back out of surprise, not disapproval. But she had no way of conveying that to Sekai of course.

"So, uhm," Kotonoha said. "What do you think?"

"Not bad. White suits you."

"You don't sound convinced."

"Well," Sekai scratched the back of her head. "I personally like striped ones better."

"Oh. Let's try one of those then."

"But what I like isn't important. You're not wearing it for me after all."

Well, actually… the whole reason she had brought Sekai along was…

"I want something you like," Kotonoha said, hoping Sekai would pick up the hint.

"I'm not sure Makoto has the same taste as me."

Kotonoha internally facepalmed herself. She really had to clear up this misunderstanding.

But she knew she couldn't. If she admitted they had stopped dating, Sekai would be confused. The whole reason she thought they fit good together was because she had interpreted the vague hints from Kotonoha as her liking Makoto. It was obvious Kotonoha liked  _someone_ , she was a maiden in love. So if it wasn't Makoto, Sekai would quickly figure out it was her instead. And Kotonoha wouldn't survive the embarrassment. It was one thing to like a boy, but it was a wholly different thing to like a girl. From Sekai's perspective, Kotonoha wasn't an option at all. She liked boys.

"Why don't you try something on?" Kotonoha asked, five swimsuits later.

"Ye, I don't know. Bikinis are expensive."

"You said you needed a new one every year."

"True. But I didn't buy one last year either."

"Even more reason then."

"Well," she smiled. "I don't want to take Makoto away from you."

"Yes you do." The words were out before she realised it.

"What do you mean?" Sekai frowned.

"I…" She avoided her eyes. "You kissed him on the station. He told me."

"That… was a greeting. A good luck charm."

"You kissed him on the lips. You stole his first kiss, what would you call that?"

"I…" tears appeared in her eyes. "I have to go."  
"Hey, wait."

Before she could stop her, Sekai had stormed out of the shop.

She couldn't run after her since she was still in her latest bikini, a striped blue-white thing.

When she had finally changed back into her clothes, Sekai was long gone of course.

Kotonoha sighed. Maybe this was for the best.

Sekai liked Itou and she wanted her to be happy, so she would support her, the way Sekai had supported her. That is what friends do, they support one another.  _This was the only way_ , Kotonoha convinced herself.

She flipped over her phone and looked at the picture she had taken of Sekai.

Her shaking fingers deleted it.

"Good luck," she whispered. "Sekai."


	6. The Kiss

The train kicked itself back into motion.

Kotonoha and Makoto were quiet for a moment.

"So uhm, you didn't tell her?" Kotonoha finally asked.

"Well." He gave her an apologetic look. "Sorry. I wanted to, but she was so excited I just couldn't."

"It's okay."

"But-"

"Really, it's fine. I think Sekai figured it out by herself." At least, she  _hoped_  she had. She understood perfectly how hard it was to tell Sekai the truth. She hadn't even dared to do it on the  _phone_ , let alone in real life.

"Sekai?"

Kotonoha turned bright red. "What? You call her like that as well."

"Yeah. Uhm…"

At that point, the train reached their destination.

Sekai was waiting for them, along with Kuroda and a friend of Makoto-kun. She believed his name was Taisuke.

"Hey," Kotonoha said. She was keenly aware of the lecherous look Taisuke threw her.

She wanted to remind him her eyes were higher, but didn't find the courage to do so.

"Kotonoha." Sekai hugged her out of nowhere.

What the…

She had been worrying how they would act with what happened. In her head, a million different scenarios had played out, but none of them involved this surprise hug.

Sekai cheerfully introduced her to the girl (who was indeed called Kuroda) and the boy (who was indeed the desperate virgin Sawanaga Taisuke). Meanwhile, Kotonoha was still thinking.

So, Sekai wasn't angry at her? It seemed like she was actually happy. But why?

Had Sekai finally figured out she and Itou had stopped dating?

Then it would mean she had a chance, so her being happy would make sense.

But… what if she was faking it? Sekai could smile as if she wasn't dying on the inside. Usually, Kotonoha could see through that, but what if she was wrong this time? What if she  _wanted_ Sekai and Makoto to get together so Sekai would be happy and because of that, she ignored the signs stating the opposite?

"Well, everyone is here," Sekai said, a broad smile on her face. Too broad?

"Let's go," Makoto said. He slung his bag over one shoulder, probably trying to look cool.

They walked to the pool. Somehow, Makoto ended up walking next to her.

"What is up with those two?" Kotonoha asked, pointing at virgin and twin-tails.

"Oh," Makoto dropped his voice. "Kuroda likes him. She's been doing the cellphone charm since middle school."

"So it doesn't work?" Since middle school was a lot longer than three weeks.

"It says you'll end up together," Makoto said. "Not  _when_."

"Sounds like a weak cop-out."

He shrugged.

"Do you know what's up with Sekai?" Kotonoha asked.

"Beats me. She seems very happy."

"For no reason."

"Maybe she looks forward to seeing me in my trunks. You know, all these abs."

"You have a lecherous look on your face," she noted.

"This is my normal face."

They both laughed.

She had been worried things would be awkward between them, but clearly they could be just friends without trouble. That is… depending on what Sekai was planning to do. She liked Makoto after all.

On the one hand, Kotonoha  _didn't_  want Sekai to get together with Makoto, but then again, if that was what made her happy, who was she to stop them? After all, Kotonoha was not a potential love interest to Sekai. She was a  _girl_ for crying out loud. Sekai was about as straight as-

"There it is." Makoto pointed at a large building.

"Hey Makoto." Taisuke came walking next to them. "You know the similarly between girls and pasta?"

"I don't," he replied, a barely veiled sigh in his voice.

"They are both straight until wet."

Needless to say Taisuke was the only one that laughed.

Taisuke ran ahead to the pool.

"Sorry about him," Makoto said.

"It's okay."

"You seem concerned."

"I'm thinking."

"That wasn't a joke that requires a lot of thinking. He meant that-"

"I know what he meant," she cut him off.

"Sorry. I thought maybe…"

"Just because I don't want to kiss on a first date doesn't mean I don't know anything about… about…"

"About what?"

"Shut up." She sped up her pace as well. The clear laughter of Makoto ringed in her ears. She felt the blood rising to her face.

Their group entered the pool and each of them found a changing cabin. Separate ones, obviously, although she noticed Kuroda throwing a longing stare at Taisuke.

Kotonoha changed into her new bikini. The blue one with the white stripes Sekai had liked so much.

Strangely, when she got out, she found Sekai was wearing a bikini with an identical pattern. The only difference was that hers was salmon-pink. Wild salmon, obviously. Salmon bred in captivity became grey because they could not eat the correct food. The colorant was then created microbially and injected into the meat afterwards. Interestingly, this was-

"Kotonoha?" Sekai waved her hand.

"Sorry. I was uhm, lost in thoughts."

"About what?"

"Uhm." She scratched the back of her head. "Salmons?"

Sekai chuckled. "Really?"

"Did you know salmons are anadromous?"

"They are what?"

"They swim against the current to rivers to mate and lay eggs."

"Oh. And why are you thinking about that?"

"I can't swim against the current," she said.

"Well, me neither," Sekai chuckled.

"Well uhm, I can't swim  _with_  the current either."

"You mean… you can't swim in general?"

Her face turned salmon-pink. "You could put it like that, I guess." There was no need to say it out loud. This was quite embarrassing.

"Want me to teach you?" Sekai offered.

"Uhm, yeah, actually."

"Actually, you should ask Makoto. You two are still dating, right?"

"Well, about that…"

"I wouldn't want him to get jealous," she chuckled.

"Sekai."

Her smiled vanished. She was surprised Kotonoha had called her name so suddenly.

"I want you to teach me," Kotonoha said. "It'll be very embarrassing if Makoto-kun learns I can't swim."

"Oh, yeah, of course."

While she had reached her goal, her reasoning was pushing her further away from saying her true thoughts. Even so this was still a big step forward. She had spoken her thoughts. She had told Sekai she wanted to learn how to swim from her. She may have provided the wrong reasons, but still, results were what mattered.

The rest of their group arrived. They managed to send Makoto off with Taisuke on the water slides while Sekai took her to an undeep part of the pool.

"Uhm," Sekai said. "I don't have much experience with learning someone how to swim. I suppose I'll just take your arms and drag you forward while you use your feet?"

"Uhm, yeah, I guess." As if Kotonoha would have a better idea.

They held each other's wrists. Sekai's hands were warm. This wasn't exactly holding hands, but it was pretty close.

While Sekai slowly walked backwards, Kotonoha kicked the water with her feet.

"You're doing well," Sekai encouraged her.

Kotonoha was distracted and accidentally pushed the ground with her feet. Her body was pushed forward against Sekai.

"Uhm." Sekai was flustered. Suddenly, they were in some kind of embrace. Their chests were pushed together because they were so close. Kotonoha had to clasp her arms around Sekai's neck to prevent herself from falling.

"Uhum." Kotonoha cleared her throat and regained her balance. "Sorry."

"It's fine," Sekai said.

They stayed in their tight embrace.

Sekai hesitated for a moment but then she wrapped her hands around Kotonoha and rested them on her lower back.

Kotonoha turned bright red, which, luckily, Sekai could not see as her head rested on her shoulder.

"Sekai," she said, her voice was a bit hoarse. "I uhm…" This was the moment. The moment to-

"I'm sorry," Sekai blurted out.

"Huh?"

"I shouldn't have kissed Makoto. Even if you guys weren't dating yet, that was unfair of me."

"Oh, uhm." Now she had really killed the mood.

"You two deserve a proper chance," Sekai continued. "That's why… I won't bother you anymore. My advice probably wasn't that helpful either."

She released the embrace. Kotonoha wanted to stay like that, but Sekai went back to a normal position. Their bodies were no longer touching. They were drifting apart, both mentally and physically.

"We should get back to your boyfriend," Sekai said. She faked a smile. It was so obviously fake it broke Kotonoha's heart.

Now was the proper time to tell the truth. But if she did, that smile would vanish. Although the truth was rather obvious, Sekai did not want to see it. Even if Kotonoha told her it was fine to go date Makoto, she would still feel like she was stealing him away from Kotonoha, who had never been truly interested in him in the first place.

Kotonoha sighed inwardly. How had she gotten herself into this messed-up situation?

\

Sekai tried to couple them for the rest of the day. Her barely veiled attempts even became obvious to Makoto who eventually queried with Kotonoha.

"Did something happen?"

"She wants us to be together," Kotonoha sighed.

"Didn't you tell her we broke up?"

"I tried but… she doesn't really want to see it."

"We can't keep this up."

"I'll tell her, don't worry. But for now, let's just play along."

"Okay." He took her hand.

"Hey, calm down."

"Sorry. But you said to play along."

"I feel like you're trying to take advantage of the situation."

"I would never do something so despicable," he said.

"Sure, sure."

\

Soon enough, their 'date' ended. When she was back alone on the platform, she texted Sekai.

The girl replied immediately.

[You should call Makoto. Make sure he enjoyed himself. *Wink-emoticon*]

She did not send back.

The doors of the train closed, but Kotonoha remained on the platform.

She put her phone in her pocket and ran.

Kastura ran around to the other platform and took the train back.

She had made up her mind. She had to see Sekai and tell her how she really felt.

When she got out, it had started to rain. Obviously, she didn't have an umbrella with her so she had to run through the rain. This didn't matter. She had gotten wet in the pool as well, there was only a slight difference in her attire.

Her hair and clothes were quickly soaked and she was chilled to her very bones from the cold rain.

She knew where Sekai's house was. She had looked it up before in the school records. As class representative she had access to those. Of course, she had only done it out of curiosity, not because she intended to do anything with it. At least, that is what she had told herself at that time.

She was about three quarters of the way when…

Sekai?

Sekai was standing on the sidewalk, an umbrella in her hand, and her bag in the other.

Kotonoha had only seen her because she stood beneath a streetlight. Kotonoha stood in the dark, and with this rain, she was impossible to see from that angle.

In front of Sekai was…

She narrowed her eyes.

Makoto?

Yes. It was him. What was he…

He suddenly hugged her.

The umbrella and the bag fell out of her hands and she put her arms around him.

Kotonoha couldn't hear what they said, but not much later, Sekai pulled back a little and looked up. Makoto leaned in and…

Kotonoha could only watch in horror as the girl she loved kissed with the boy that was technically her ex-boyfriend.

Luckily, she couldn't get any colder since she was already freezing.

Kotonoha smiled sadly. She didn't know whether she was crying or not because of the heavy rain, but it didn't matter anyway.

"Make her happy," she whispered.


	7. Setsuna

"Hey, Katsura-san, are you paying attention?" Katou said, venom in her voice.

"Huh? Yeah, of course."

"The Break Room, get it done."

"Yes, but…" Why would a haunted house need a Break Room? In case people fainted? As if their haunted house would be that scary.

"Just get it done," Katou demanded.

"Uhm, sure."

As usual, she felt like she was completely left out of the loop.

The bell chimed.

Kotonoha hurriedly left as she had a council meeting soon.

She arrived in the room and found…

"Makoto-kun? What are you doing here?"

"Rock beats scissors," he replied.

"Huh?"

"Tanaka broke his leg," Setsuna explained. "So we needed a replacement. Makoto  _volunteered_."

"I see." Every class had a boy and a girl to represent them on the committee, save for her class. Somehow, Kotonoha had ended up as the sole representative.

Makoto-kun didn't seem to be that enthusiastic about being a council member.

She could not ask further because the meeting started at that point.

The meeting was, as usual, incredibly boring. Her thoughts were drifting off constantly.

Eventually, after what seemed like hours, it ended.

She walked up to Makoto.

"We're both committee members now, it seems," she said.

"We have to go, Itou-kun," Kiyoura said before he could reply.

"Huh, why?"

"We're meeting Sekai at Pure Burger later."

"We still have time," Makoto insisted.

"No we don't. She's waiting for us."

"She's still working."

"Come on." Kiyoura semi-dragged Makoto-kun away. He kept mumbling half-hearted protests.

Kotonoha blinked a few times. What was that about? Kiyoura had completely blocked her from talking to Makoto-kun. And she wanted to ask him about Sekai.

Well, no worries. She would see him tomorrow on the train anyway.

\

\

The next morning she did indeed see him. As usual, he was listening to music, but he turned it off when he saw her.

"I was hoping I would see you here," she said.

"How do you mean? I always take this train."

"Yeah, but, maybe not today." Last night had made her worried. She had seen them kiss, but with did that mean? Were they dating?

"Is something wrong?"

"Are you dating Sekai?" She blurted out.

He was a bit taken back by this sudden question. "Who told you that?"

"Well, Sekai is my friend and…"  
"We're not dating," Makoto said.

What?

"At least, not officially," he added.

What was that supposed to mean?

An awkward silence fell. She did not dare to ask on about this.

After a while, Makoto put his music back on. She pulled out her book and started reading.

\

\

"So you hold out your hand like this," the girl said. "And if he takes your hand, he agrees and then you can go into the Break Room."

"Sounds simple enough," the other girl added.

"Hey, Otome-chan," the third girl said. "Who would you want to ask?"

"Huh? Me? No one in particular." The faint blush on her cheeks betrayed everything.

"Come on. Tell us."

"No way."

"Come on Otome-chan," the second girl said. "Just give us a hint. How long have you known him?"

"Since junior-high."

"Oh, a childhood crush. That's so cute."

"Otome-chan is from Harami Junior High, right?"

"Yeah," Katou confirmed.

"Hm, not many guys from there."

_Oh no_. A disturbing thought came to Kotonoha.

She was on the same line as Makoto, so she knew he was from Haramihama. Meaning that nine chances out of ten, his old school was Harami Junior High.

But what did it matter? So, Katou had a crush on Itou-kun. So what?

"What are you ogling at?" Katou suddenly said to her.

"Huh? Nothing, I uhm."  
"I can't hear you, speak up."  
"This is homeroom, we're supposed to-"

"You're the class representative, do your job."

"We're supposed to-"

"We have plenty of work already, don't bother us. Did you take care of that Break Room already?"

"I…"

"Is that a yes or a no? Speak up."

She felt anger bubbling up. "What's wrong? Did Itou-kun reject you this morning?"

It was a guess, but apparently she had hit bullseye.

Katou turned bright red. "What… I…"

"Speak up, I can't hear you."

"You little," Katou stood up.

"Of course he rejected you," Kotonoha said. "He's already dating someone. Someone far prettier than you." Katou could not steal Makoto-kun away. If he did, Sekai would be very sad.

"You're lying."

"Go ahead and ask him then."

"It's you isn't it?" She said. "They saw the two of you at the movie theater. At first I didn't think anything of it, but now…"

At that point she remembered what Makoto had told her this morning. About keeping their relationship secret.

"That's right," Kotonoha said. Honestly, what did it matter what Katou thought? "Don't try to cross me again, Katou."

Katou's hands balled into fists.

"He's mine," Kotonoha added.

"Uhm, is the committee member in?" Someone asked.

"Yes." Perfect timing. She was already looking for an excuse to leave this room.

The festival would soon be upon them. They were now in the final preparations. Which meant she was very busy.

They kept her busy with stuff until late in the evening. She had to do double work after all, since she was the only class representative.

Everyone should be home already. It was pitch black outside.

She walked the hallway outside. However, halfway through, she spotted light coming from under a room. Had someone forgotten to turn it off?

She opened the door a little. Someone was inside. Someone familiar with a red ribbon in her hair. Someone else was setting against the wall.

She narrowed her eyes. Makoto-kun? It was hard to see from this angle.

As she watched, Kiyoura crouched down with Makoto.

She whispered something but Kotonoha could not hear it. Then she…

Was that…?

Kotonoha pushed the door open further so she could see properly.

Yeah, no doubt about it. A full-on kiss on the lips.

She remained frozen for a couple seconds. Kiyoura stopped kissing him.

She could not be seen. She had to go, right now.

With her heart beating furiously, Kotonoha closed the door almost all the way and ran away. She tried not to make a sound although she was certain her wild heartbeat could be heart all across the school.

When she reached the lockers, her fingers trembled so much it took her several excruciating minutes to tie her laces.

That was not possible. She must have seen it wrong. Her eyes were deceiving her.

Yet, it did explain Setsuna's behaviour. If she still thought Kotonoha was dating Makoto-kun then it made perfect sense she would be hostile, cause she was dating him as well.

And this morning, when she asked Makoto about dating Sekai, he had evaded the question.

Was he two-timing them? That was so wrong. How could he do that to them?

Kotonoha fished out her cellphone and pressed the speed dial. The most called number was automatically dialed. She picked up on the third sound.

"Sekai?"

"What's wrong?" Sekai asked, sensing something was off.

"Are you dating Makoto-kun?"

"Huh?" She laughed fake. "Where did you hear that?"

"Just answer the question please."  
"We… well, we kissed. Nothing more. Sorry I didn't tell you. I just thought, since you dated him before… I didn't want to hurt your feelings."  
 _You already have. And you didn't even know it._

"I'm fine, really. I was just curious."

"Okay. Is your curiosity satisfied now?"

"Completely, thanks."

"See you at school tomorrow then."

"Yeah. Sorry for calling."

"Don't worry about it. Hey, let's have lunch tomorrow. Just the three of us, like in the old days."  
"It's getting cold."  
"Yeah. This will be one of the last times we can eat outside."  
"I wasn't just talking about the weather."

"How so?"

"Nothing. Don't worry about it."  
"Okay. See you tomorrow then?"

"Yeah. Goodnight, Sekai."

"Goodnight, Kotonoha."  
That night, she could not sleep. She kept twisting and turning, both her body and the thoughts in her head. She simply had to tell Sekai, there was no way around it. She could not keep something like this secret from her best friend.

However. Wasn't it awfully convenient?

Sekai was dating Makoto-kun while she had a giant crush on Sekai herself. And of all the people who could have seen Makoto cheat on her, it had been Kotonoha. If she told Sekai, she would end their relationship, making her available again. It was even quite likely she would cry out with Kotonoha. She couldn't go to Makoto or Kiyoura after all, since both were involved. It was so incredibly convenient for her she could not believe it to be a mere coincidence. Maybe she had seen what she desperately wanted to see. A hallucination born from her own desires.

But she knew that wasn't true. She had seen it with her own eyes. Kiyoura-san had kissed him. She hadn't dreamed that, that much was certain.

Still. Did she really want to break Sekai's heart?

But then again. What would happen if she didn't tell her? Makoto could not keep it secret forever. And if Sekai found out, she would be betrayed three times, once by Makoto, once by Kiyoura and once by Kotonoha. Saying it now would at the very least reduce the damage dealt. Cause damage would be dealt either way.

She made her resolve. Tomorrow, during lunch, she would tell Sekai.

\

\

"Hey."

"Oh, hey." Kotonoha said. "Where is Makoto-kun?"

"Still has to turn in his physics paper. He'll be here soon."

"Oh." Maybe now was the best time then? She did not want Makoto here with her.

"Listen, Sekai," Kotonoha started. "I need to tell you something important."

She told her what she had seen the other day.

"What? No, that's not possible. You're lying."

"Why would I lie?"

"Because you like Makoto as well. Admit it, you want to take him from me."

"No." She wanted Sekai, not Makoto.

"I don't believe you." Sekai stood up.

"Where are you going?"

"I'm going to ask Setsuna. She's my best friend, she would never lie to me."

Kotonoha was helpless to watch as Sekai left her.

Kotonoha sat back down. She hadn't even noticed she had stood up, but now, her legs were shaking and could no longer support her own weight.

The door opened again.

Had Sekai returned?

"Where is Sekai?" A male voice asked.

"Have a seat, Makoto-kun. I need to tell you something."

"Uhm, okay. Should I be concerned?"

"I won't beat around the bush. I told Sekai what I saw last night."

"You told her what?" His voice sounded innocent and confused. How could he fake it like that? He knew  _exactly_ what Kotonoha was talking about.

"I saw you and Kiyoura."

"Huh? Look, I know I was slacking off, but my sister suddenly stood in front of my house and I had to get her back to dad, so I was pretty tired yesterday."

"What are you talking about? I saw you kiss with Kiyoura-san."

"Don't be ridiculous, I was asleep."

"What?"

"I just told you. I was tired because of my sister, so I sat down against the wall and slept while Kiyoura worked. I slept until she woke me up. I don't know where this kissing is coming from but I didn't kiss anyone last night."

"But… I saw the two of you kissing."

"You saw me kissing her?"

"Well, the other way around, but still…"

"Where was I?" Makoto asked.

"You were sitting against the wall."

"Are you sure you saw it right? Maybe she was just waking me up and it looked like kissing."  
She had seen it right. They had kissed, only…

She hadn't paid proper attention to Makoto. And it had been very strange he was just sitting motionless against a wall. Kiyoura was the only one who had spoken. A soft kiss, while he was asleep, was that possible?

But why on Earth would she do that?

"Setsuna is leaving," Makoto said. "Her mom transfers to Paris."

"When?"

"Tomorrow."

"Oh."

"So, well, you would not lie about this, so… I think she likes me and it's possible she wanted to say goodbye in her own way. She's bad with talking about her feelings and stuff. You probably understand."

"Yeah." She could understand that perfectly.

What had she done? She should have waited for Makoto so he could explain himself, but she had gone ahead and told Sekai without giving him any chance to tell his side of the story.

Awfully convenient she had been the one to see it. There was no turning around it. Kotonoha had bended the information she had received in her favor. She had tried to come between Makoto and Sekai.

"I have to go," Kotonoha said.

"Go where?"

She did not answer.

_Maybe it was not too late yet_ , she thought hopefully.

Maybe.


	8. An Unexpected Visitor

"Onee-chan? Earth to Onee-chan?"

"Huh?" Kotonoha blinked. She took her eyes away from the window. "Sorry, I drifted off." The heavy rain outside had reminded her of a different day. A day she had watched two people kiss in the rain.

After what had happened, she had searched for her at school but Sekai was already gone. She didn't answer any texts or calls which made her even more worried.

"You said you'd help me with my math homework," Kokoro-chan reminded her. "But you're not that much help."

"Well," Kotonoha said. "I can't help you too much. You'll have to do it by yourself eventually."

"But it's so  _haaaard_ ," Kokoro complained.

The doorbell rang.

Kotonoha checked her watch. It was almost 9 pm. A visitor? At this hour?

"Probably for mom," she said.

"Maybe it's for me," Kokoro said.

"Who would come for you?"

"Someone who saves me from this math homework. Really, anyone will do."

"I don't think anyone is coming to save you."

"Maybe it's your boyfriend then."

"Math homework isn't going to make itself, Kokoro. At this rate, mom will send you to summer school."

"But I don't want to go to summer school."

"Well, then-"

Someone knocked on their door and then entered. Their mom.

"It's your friend," she said.

"My friend?"

That sounded like a cruel joke. Kotonoha had no close friends. Certainly no one close enough to know where she lived.

"See," Kokoro said. "It's your boyfriend."

"Actually," their mother said. "It's a girl. But both are fine to me."

"Mom!" Kotonoha blushed bright red. Her mother had hit a little too close to the truth.

When she left the room, she heard mom remind Kokoro it was her bedtime, followed by her complaints.

Kotonoha took the stairs down. A girl? Who could that be?

Maybe…

No, that wasn't possible. Sekai did not know where she lived.

She arrived in the hallway and froze for an instant.

It was Sekai after all. She still wore her uniform although her red ribbon was gone. Every part of it was dripping wet, as if she had been swimming here instead of walking.

She was shivering, but for some reason she still stood outside in the rain.

"Hey," Sekai said, only a hint of her usual cheerfulness left.

"Why are you standing in the rain?" Kotonoha asked. Hadn't mom let her in?

"I'm fine. I just wanted to talk to you," Sekai said calmly. While she said it, she started shivering even more.

"You're freezing," Kotonoha insisted.

"No, I'm… I'm fine."

"Well I'm getting cold."

"Then we should get inside," Sekai said. "I don't want you to freeze."

Kotonoha stepped aside and Sekai hurriedly entered. Water dripped down from her.

Kotonoha closed the door.

"Hey." She put a hand on Sekai's shoulder. "Come here."

Sekai was pulled into a sudden hug.

"I'm kinda… wet," she weakly protested.

Kotonoha chuckled softly.

"What?" Sekai asked.

"Nothing," she quickly replied.

They released each other again.

"Where have you been?" Kotonoha asked.

"Well, first I went to talk with Setsuna and then I took a walk to think."

"That must have been a pretty long walk."

"Yeah, I think so." She wrapped her hands around herself.

"You'll get sick if you stay in those wet clothes," Kotonoha said.

"Probably."

"Come on. You can take a shower here." She took Sekai with her to the bathroom. (Sekai weakly protested, but Kotonoha ignored her.)

"Wow," Sekai said. She had never seen such a huge bathroom.

"I'll see if I can find you some spare clothes."

"Okay."

She went back to her room. Their height was almost identical and from their three sizes she guessed the last two were pretty similar as well (although she had never dared to ask Sekai her sizes). It was the first number that would be a problem.

Kotonoha hesitated when going back to the bathroom. Due to the design, she would be able to see everything if she entered now. Their shower had a glass wall. You could lock the door of course, but Sekai hadn't done that.

"Uhm, Sekai?" She called, unsure. "I found you something that will fit, I think."

"You can come in. This is your house," Sekai called from behind the door.

"But-"

"Come on, it's not a big deal. We've been changing for PE too, it's the same thing."

Well, not exactly the same.

Why was her heart beating so fast?

Sekai was right, she told herself. This wasn't a big deal.

Kotonoha opened the door.

She tried her very best not to look at Sekai, but she caught glimpses anyway.

Sekai had turned her back to Kotonoha so given the situation she was being modest. Still, this was more than enough to make Kotonoha's ears burn.

Kotonoha tried her best not to look as she put the dress down.

"Sorry about this," Sekai said over the sound of the falling water (both outside and inside). "I didn't have anywhere else to go."

"Why didn't you go to Makoto-kun?"

"That bastard kissed with my best friend."

"But…"

She did say she had talked to Kiyoura, so she should know Makoto-kun wasn't to blame. He was asleep.

"Setsuna confirmed your story. They kissed, just like you said."

Well, not  _exactly_  like she said.

Why did Kiyoura confirm her wrong account of the events? And why didn't she tell Sekai the truth?

"Look, Sekai, it didn't exactly happen like-"

"It doesn't matter," Sekai cut her off. "Setsuna is gone anyway."

Oh, of course. As Setsuna was leaving anyway, she wanted them to leave as friends, so she had taken the opportunity to twist the story in her favor. As Sekai and Makoto had kept their relationship pretty secret, it was likely Kiyoura did not know about it. So she thought she was kissing with her friend's crush, not her boyfriend. However, if she had told the truth, Sekai would definitely be angry. Kissing a sleeping boy was unacceptable.

Kiyoura had probably assumed she was keeping the damage to a minimum this way.

Her last wish must have been for them to leave as friends.

Sekai turned off the shower.

Now they could only hear the sound of the rain outside.

Sekai dried herself off while Kotonoha tried her best not to look at her.

"Thanks for… you know, being here for me," Sekai said.

"No problem," Kotonoha said. Her voice was trembling a bit.

Sekai put on the dress Kotonoha had handed her.

"You have good taste," she said.

"Thanks," Kotonoha said. She turned to look. Sekai was wearing her favorite red summer dress. She didn't look bad in it, but red wasn't really her color. She should have gone with something else.

"It's a bit loose here," Sekai said. She pulled up the fabric around her chest.

Kotonoha tried not to think too much about how Sekai wasn't wearing anything beneath that dress.

"I'll put your clothes in the dryer," Kotonoha quickly said. She gathered the pile of clothes. "Be right back."

She went outside before Sekai could reply.

Halfway on the stairs a sound disturbed her. She tripped over one step. If she hadn't reflexively grabbed the railing she would have fallen down.

A cellphone, but not hers.

She checked Sekai's pocket and pulled out her phone.

It displayed 'mom'. However, she also saw something disturbing.

_7 missed calls._

Her mother must be really worried.

Kotonoha folded open the flip-phone and pressed the green button.

"Hello?"

[Sekai?] A worried voice asked. [Where is Sekai, what happened to her?]

"She's fine. She had an argument with her best friend, then she took a walk and arrived here."

[With Setsuna-chan?]

"Yeah."

[You must be Katsura-san then?]

"Uhm, yeah." How did she know that?

[Oh. Well, then it's okay. Could you ask Sekai to call me?]

"Uhm, sure."

[Thanks, I have to go back to work now.]

Sekai's mom hung up.

Kotonoha kept standing there with the phone to her ear.

This was a rather strange development. Sekai's mom had been worried sick but when she mentioned Sekai was here suddenly everything was fine. What was up with that? How did her mother even know who Kotonoha was?

Kotonoha lowered the phone.

She wanted to close it again, but then she noticed something which made her freeze in place.

The wallpaper on her phone.

She was not mistaken, right?

Kotonoha pressed the 'return'-button, but nothing happened. This was her home screen. And her home screen showed two girls. One of them was smiling and made a peace sign, the other looked a bit uncomfortable.

This was the very first picture they had taken together.

She kept staring, but eventually, the screen went dark. She pressed a button and it lit back up, but this time it asked for the pincode which Kotonoha obviously didn't know.

She must have seen it wrong.

"What are you doing?" A sudden voice asked.

Kotonoha looked up, she quickly slipped the phone in her pocket. Her mother stood down the stairs.

"Uhm, putting her clothes in the dryer?"

"It doesn't look like it."

"I just tripped over the stairs," Kotonoha said. She picked up the wet clothes.

"Be careful," her mother warned her.

Kotonoha didn't reply as she took the last stairs.

"So," her mother said. "Why didn't you tell me you had a girlfriend?" She started walking with her daughter.

"Stop it mom. She's just a friend."

"A friend who knows where you live and shows up at this hour?"

"A good friend."

"Well, will you introduce your 'good friend' next time she comes to visit? Preferably at a normal hour?"

"I don't know if there will be a next time."

She finally managed to shake off her mom at the dryer.

Kotonoha was so lost in thoughts she almost tripped again on the stairs on her way back up.

Sekai was waiting for her outside the bathroom.

"Your mom is probably really worried," Kotonoha said.

"Yeah. Do you have my phone?"

"Uhm, yeah. It was still in your pocket." She handed her the phone.

Kotonoha could only hope Sekai would not notice she had seen the wallpaper. Sekai turned her phone round and round in her hands but did not call her mother.

"You could stay here for tonight," Kotonoha offered. "It's late already. My mom won't mind."

"Mom is working late," Sekai said. "And she won't approve if I take a train alone at this hour."

"So stay here then," Kotonoha said. "But you should call your mom about it. She must be worried sick."

"Are you sure your mom won't mind if I stay here?" Sekai asked, unsure.

"Absolutely."

Of course, technically she could ask her mom to drive Sekai home, but there was no need to bring that up now. And given her mental state, it was probably better if she wasn't alone tonight.

She wanted to ask how Sekai's mom knew her, but she did not find the courage to do so.

* * *

"Sekai?" Kotonoha's voice asked from the darkness.

"Yeah?" Sekai wasn't asleep either.

"Have you ever heard about the Cellphone Charm?"

"The one where you take a picture of someone you like and set it as your wallpaper? Yeah, I've heard of it."

"Have you ever done it?"

"Maybe. You?"

"Maybe."

Kotonoha swallowed hard. "What do you think happens if two people do it with each other?"

"I don't know. I guess that would mean…" Her voice trailed off.

Had she realised the implication of what Kotonoha had said?

"Sekai, I uhm-"

"Did you look at my cellphone?" Sekai asked, her voice cold.

"I uhm, I didn't mean to, but…"  
"Is that a yes?"

"Uhm, yeah. Sorry."

"It's okay, I guess," Sekai said.

"You don't sound like you find it okay."

"I didn't want you to see that," Sekai said. She hesitated. "Cause I knew you would misinterpret. I'm not doing the Charm, I just like the picture."

"Oh." She had gotten her hopes up for nothing.

"You're a good friend, Kotonoha."

"Yeah."  _Friend_. She bit her lip. Luckily it was dark and Sekai could not see her expression.

"Good night."

"Yeah, good night."


	9. Bonfire for Two

_No, no, she couldn't do this_ , Kotonoha told herself.

Sekai was still asleep. She looked incredibly cute when sleeping. Her chest softly rose and fell on the cadence of her breath. Her hair seemed longer than usual. Maybe because it was spread out all over the pillow.

An idea had popped into Kotonoha's head while she watched Sekai. A very dangerous idea.

The very reason Sekai was here was because of a misunderstanding. While Makoto-kun had kissed with Kiyoura-san, he had been asleep at that time.

In other words, if she was careful-

No, no. She couldn't kiss Sekai right now.

But it might be the only chance she would ever have. Sekai wanted to be just friends, the odds were pretty low she would have another sleepover. Especially since…

Kotonoha sighed.

This situation was temporarily. Makoto-kun knew exactly what was going on. For now, Sekai hadn't given him a chance to explain himself, but how long would that last? They were sitting right next to each other in class. Once the festival was over, he would tell her the truth. Maybe Sekai wouldn't believe him at first, but it didn't matter. Kotonoha knew the truth. If she said nothing, she would feel guilty for the rest of her life. Their relationship would be built upon a lie.

She already felt incredibly guilty for ruining the relationship between Makoto and Sekai over a misunderstanding, if she also blocked his attempt at getting back with her, she could never face Sekai again.

This was her one chance. Her one chance to say goodbye to a future that could never exist. Exactly like Setsuna had done.

Kotonoha took a deep breath.

Sekai stirred in her sleep. She moved her arm over her head.

Now, her face was covered. The window of opportunity had closed.

She had waited too long.

Kotonoha softly shook Sekai awake.

The short haired girl yawned. "It's like, the middle of the night."

"Seven o'clock actually," Kotonoha said. "It's a school day today, in case you forgot."

"I even forgot what century it is," Sekai said. She ran a hand through her messy hair.

Kotonoha chuckled. "It's November…" wait a minute.

Sekai seemed to realise as well cause her eyes cleared up.

""The festival is today,"" they realised at the same time.

With all that had happened, they had totally forgotten about that.

"We can't be late for the festival," Sekai said.

"Agreed."

Actually, Kotonoha was not really looking forward to the school festival. Her class was doing a haunted house, which was about the most boring thing ever. And while they had a schedule, Kotonoha doubted everyone would follow it. If it went wrong, she would be blamed since she was class representative.

Sekai went to the bathroom to change. Kotonoha did the same in her room.

They both arrived downstairs at roughly the same time. Her little sister and mother were already there. Dad was already off to work.

"Good morning," her mom said.

"Morning."

"Hey, Onee-chan, why didn't you tell us about your  _girlfriend_?" Kokoro asked.

"She's just a friend," Kotonoha said.

"Is that your sister?" Sekai asked.

"Yeah, that's Kokoro."

"Kokoro-chan. That's a cute name." Sekai smiled.

"I like her," Kokoro said.

"Glad to have your approval," Kotonoha said dryly.

"See, she  _is_  your girlfriend."

Kotonoha ignored her.

Some time later, they were both walking to the station.

"They both seemed utterly convinced we were a couple," Sekai said.

"Well, I don't bring people home every day," Kotonoha said. "Certainly not in the middle of the night."

"Good point."

"Maybe we could be?" Kotonoha said. She tried to make it sound like a joke.

"Yeah," Sekai said. "Maybe." She added an enigmatic smile.

Huh?

What was that supposed to mean? Maybe? How could you maybe be-

"Say, would you like to go around the festival together?" Sekai asked.

"... Are you sure?"

"Setsuna is gone and I'm still mad at Makoto-kun. I don't want to go alone, that's so lame."

"Yeah, sure. I'd love to go with you."

Sekai knew the meaning of that, right? Going around the festival was equivalent to proclaiming they were a couple.

But then again, maybe she just didn't see it like that because both of them were girls. And it was likely other people would think the same thing.

She was probably reading too much in this (as usual).

They arrived at the station and got on the next train.

"Thanks a lot for letting me stay," Sekai said.

"It's okay. That's what friends are for."

"Yeah,  _friends_."

"Sekai?"

"Nothing," she quickly said.

There was something weird about Sekai today.

"I have a shift first, but I should be free in the afternoon. Shall I come pick you up?" Sekai offered.

"Sure. I'll probably be at the haunted house. I have a suspicion my class will not follow the schedule and I'll have to sit there all day."

"That's horrible."  
Kotonoha shrugged. "Not much I can do about it."

"I guess."

An uncomfortable silence fell.

"Sorry," Kotonoha said eventually. "I shouldn't bother you with my troubles."

"It's okay. I'm here for you, Kotonoha." She took her hand.

Kotonoha blushed a bit. "Uhm, okay."

The train came to a halt.

They got out and walked the short distance to the school. Someone was waiting for them at the gate.

"Can we talk?" Makoto asked.

"I don't care what you have to say," Sekai said.

"You can't avoid me forever," he argued. "We're on the same shift."

"Wanna bet how long I can avoid you?"

"Sekai," Kotonoha interjected. "Maybe… maybe you should talk to him."

"I… fine then." She turned to Makoto. "You have five minutes."

"Don't forget to pick me up later," Kotonoha said. She leaned in and planted a kiss on Sekai's cheek. Sekai seemed a bit surprised, but didn't stop her.

Kotonoha made eye contact with Makoto.

He was surprised for a moment but then, very softly, he nodded.

Some time later, she got a text message from Makoto-kun.

[You owe me one.]

She texted back. [A girlfriend you mean?]

[Scratch that. You owe me three girlfriends.]

[Three?]

[Sekai's worth at least three.]

[I'll settle for two.]

[Done.]

Honestly, that guy would hit on anything with a skirt. She was pretty sure that if a guy would dress up as a girl, he would still try his chances. He probably wouldn't even realise it was a trap.

Kotonoha walked to the haunted house. No one was there.

The schedule clearly stated that Otome was on shift now, but as expected, she was nowhere to be seen.

She sighed and sat down behind the table. This was going to be a long day.

Not surprisingly, the haunted house had basically no success. About ninety percent of the people who came asked for something else. Something hidden in a box beneath the table. The function of the 'Break Room' now became clear to her.

It remained calm, until…

"Hey Kotonoha."

Otome again. The Trio was with her as well. Kotonoha quickly send the message she had prepared before.

"You look down," Otome said.

Kotonoha ignored her.

"Maybe her boyfriend left her," one of the Trio said. "Weren't you dating Itou-kun?"

"Clearly not," Otome said. "Or he would be here. Why would Itou want to date someone like-"

Kotonoha stood up.

"Where do you think you're going?" Otome asked.

"My shift is over," Kotonoha said simply. "It's your turn now. Didn't you see the schedule?"

"Huh? Do you actually think I'll be sitting behind that stupid desk?"

The trio chuckled behind her.

"You're class representative," Otome continued. "So do your job."

Kotonoha smiled. "You might want to turn around."

Otome frowned and then looked over her shoulder.

Her face twisted into a look of horror. It was a beautiful sight.

"You were a lot nicer in middle school, Katou," Makoto said calmly.

"Makoto, I… it's not what it looks like," Otome said. She was completely flustered at the sight of her crush.

"She's been sitting behind that desk all day," Makoto said calmly.

"That's not true!"

"Don't lie to me, Katou. Didn't you know Kotonoha is a good friend of me?"

"B-But," Katou was really at a loss for words now.

"I'm really disappointed in you, Katou. Who knew you had turned into such a bully?"

A part of her wanted to watch the show, but she dismissed the idea.

Sekai was probably waiting for her.

Makoto winked at her when she went away.

She smiled back at him.

While she had set Otome up like this, she had not expected it to work so well.

Kotonoha rounded the corner and almost bumped into Sekai.

"Oh, hey," Sekai said. "I was just coming to get you."

"Well, here I am."

Sekai smiled. "Shall we go then?"

"Where do you want to go?" Kotonoha asked.

"Everywhere."

"Oh."

They started walking the hallway.

"Say, Sekai, do you happen to have some female friends who are currently single?" Kotonoha asked. She kinda owed Makoto a lot now.

"Uhm, I guess. Maybe Niki or Noan. Why?"

"Oh, nothing. I promised my cousin I would introduce him to some girls. He's a great guy. A bit dense, but he means well. His girlfriend just broke up with him."

"Sorry to hear that. What happened?"

"A little misunderstanding. She believed he was cheating on her. He wasn't, but she wouldn't listen."

"That's horrible."

"Yeah, that's why I offered to introduce him to some girls. But well…"

"You realised you don't know a lot of a girls," Sekai finished.

"Yes."

"I can probably set something up with those two," Sekai promised.

"Thanks a lot."

That went easier than expected. She would text Makoto about it later. It was a bit wishful thinking to believe these girls would like him, but Kotonoha only planned to introduce Makoto, nothing else. The rest was up to him.

"Hey look," Sekai pointed.

"The little sister cafe of class 1-1?"

"They are so cute."

Kotonoha smiled. "Kokoro would love to participate in that."

Sekai sighed. "I wish I had a little sister."

"Maybe you'll have a little sister in law one day," Kotonoha suggested.

"Yeah, maybe. But how do I know she'll be as cute as Kokoro-chan?"

Only one way to be certain of that of course. Make sure it actually is Kokoro.  
"So," Kotonoha asked. "How did it go with Makoto-kun?"

"Alright, I guess. He apologized for what happened."

"And that was it?"

"Well. Setsuna confessed to him. She didn't know we were dating. Makoto didn't want to turn her down just before she left for Paris so they shared one kiss."

"Oh."

"He also said it was probably better if we broke up."

"Yeah."

"And… he said something else as well."

"Hm?"

"Never mind, forget it," Sekai said.

"Tell me," Kotonoha pressed.

"He said I had to be true to my feelings."

"What does that mean?"

"I don't know. It sounded very obscure. Anyway, let's continue."

They went around the festival. It wasn't long before they started losing track of time.

"I think we've seen everything," Sekai said.

"There's one more thing I want to see," Kotonoha said.

"The Folk Dance will begin soon," Sekai said, unsure. Not that she was planning to dance with anyone.

"It won't take long," Kotonoha assured her.

"Alright then."

Sekai followed her.

"Where are we going?"

"You'll see."

Sekai realised a bit later. "Wait, the roof?"

"Yeah."

Kotonoha took the last flight of stairs and opened the door.

"This brings back lots of memories," Sekai said, she pulled her coat tighter around her body. It was pretty cold up here.

Kotonoha walked to the bench. "Do you remember how I told you there was someone who interested me?"

"Yeah, sure."

"Actually, I wasn't talking about Makoto-kun back then." Kotonoha took a deep breath. "Sekai, I uhm-"

"Sh." Sekai put her finger on Kotonoha's lips. "Don't say it."

What? Why not?

Below them, they could hear the music starting.

Sekai held out her hand. "Do you want to dance?"

"Down there?"

"No silly, right here. We can hear the music well enough."  
"Uhm, okay." She hesitantly took Sekai's hand.

Sekai pulled her closer.

There was a slight moment of confusion since this Folk Dance was a boy-girl thing, and they couldn't both play the girl at the same time. After some hesitation, they switched back and forth between dancing the boy part and the girl part.

Kotonoha really enjoyed it, but at the same time, she was confused about this. Sekai must have known she planned to confess, so why had she stopped her? Did she feel bad about turning her down? But then again, she shouldn't have asked to dance.

Sekai was sending mixed signals.

The music started coming to an end.

Sekai released her hands.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I'm not ready for this. Not yet. It's too soon."

"I understand," Kotonoha replied. "Don't worry about it."

"It's just… with Setsuna suddenly gone and my break-up with Makoto-kun, I don't know-"

"Sekai. It's okay, really." In retrospect, it wasn't that strange Sekai wasn't ready for anything new right now.

Sekai nodded. Then, she pulled Kotonoha in a sudden hug.

"Thanks for being here for me," she said.

"Always." Kotonoha patted her back.

They released each other again after a long time.

The music started again. A new song this time.

Kotonoha smiled. "One more?"

Sekai smiled back and took her hand. "Sure."

She wasn't certain how long they kept dancing, or how it ended. At some point it must have ended and they must have gone home, but she had no recollection of anything like that. In her memory, it never ended, they just kept dancing, forever.


End file.
